The different worlds of women and men: Attitudes toward pornography and responses to not a love story—A film about pornography

Men and women viewing the anti-pornography documentary Not a Love Story were surveyed about their opinions and attitudes toward pornography and toward the film. Women were found to be significantly more negative toward pornography than men, and experienced greater attitude and belief changes from the film. In addition, men's and women's attitudes toward pornography were found to differ in their factor structure; the authors infer that acceptance or rejection of pornography has different significance for men and women. Background variables such as current marriage, sex of children, and amount of pornography previously seen affected men's attitudes more than women's. The authors conclude that gender-free, ‘humanist’ standards according to which pornography could be evaluated do not exist, and that approaches to pornography control based on its role in the particular oppression of women are valid.     

Understanding child abuse: Ideologies of motherhood

Child abuse is usually considered to be a social problem where ‘bad mothering’ is of central concern.This study argues that the institution of motherhood in western society is oppressive, however; indeed, under the circumstances, it is surprising that incidents of child abuse are not more widespread. Some of the difficulties and dilemmas of women as mothers are discussed with a view to suggesting ways in which women can break out of the isolating experience of abusing children.     

Self-concept of adolescent sexual abuse victims

To assess the self-concept and psychological profile associated with sexual abuse, 20 young female victims evaluated in a sexual abuse clinic completed the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ). The alleged assault was intrafamilial in 13 cases, lasting from several months to 10 years. Extrafamilial abuses were isolated events. Intercourse was alleged in 18 of the 20 instances. OSIQ group mean scores were in the poorly adjusted range for three scales, indicating serious problems with sexual attitudes, family relations, and feelings of inability to master the external environment. While the mean Overall Adjustment scale score was within normal limits, 10 girls had scores in the range indicating severe problems in adjustment; 7 were incest victims. Compared to nonsexually abused adolescent patients from a general adolescent clinic, sexually abused youth had significantly more problems with vocational/educational goals, psychopathology, and ability to master the environment (p<0.05). The self-concept problems identified in these sexually abused youth (a) are similar to those reported by women seeking psychiatric care long after their childhood sexual abuse occurred and (b) share some features reported among physically abused adolescents.This work was supported in part by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#7278) and the Indiana State Board of Health, Maternal and Child Health Division.Received M.D. from Case Western Reserve University. Research interests are psychosocial effects of chronic illness on children and adolescents, compliance and cognitive developments.Received M.D. from Georgetown University.     

Substance abuse minimization: Conceptualizing prevention in adolescent and youth programs

This article provides an overview of the historical and theoretical work on adolescent substance abuse with implications for preventive interventions. The focus is on an illustration of the use of four basic prevention tools: education, competency promotion, community mobilization, and natural care giving.Research interests include mental health, family relations, adolescence, and primary prevention.Research interests include family and social relations, adolescent personality social development.     

Substance use and abuse among adolescent runaways: A four-year follow-up study

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study Youth Survey (NLSY), runaway status in early adolescence (ages 14–15) was associated with subsequent (four years later) substance abuse, alcohol problems, and school dropout status. Three runaway categories were formed—never runaway, runaway once, and runaway two or more times. Overall, the repeat runaways reported engaging in higher levels of substance use and abuse than never and once runaways. However, some degree of gender specificity in the relationships for repeat runaways and substance abuse was found. Female repeat runaways were particularly susceptible to abusing illicit drugs (and not acoohol), whereas male repeat runaways manifested a more generalized susceptability to abusing alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Whereas substance use and abuse were linearly associated with runaway status, both the one-time and repeat runaways manifested equivalent proportions of school dropouts, and at levels far exceeding never runaways. Results are discussed with regard to the heterogeneous developmental pathways leading toward and away from adolescent runaways.Dr. Windle's major research interests involve the identification of high risk factors and then influences on adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors.     

Adolescent alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors: Their relationships and common parental influences

This study was designed to explore the relationships between adolescent alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors. Parental socialization practices, particularly support/nurturance, were also examined for common influences on both alcohol abuse and other youthful deviance. Interviews were conducted with a representative household sample of adolescents aged 12–17 years and their parents. The findings support the theory that adolescent alcohol abuse is part of a complex psychosocial problem behavior syndrome and that a high degree of parental nurturance may be a significant deterrence to alcohol abuse and more general deviant behaviors.Grace M. Barnes has a Ph.D. in sociology and is a Research Scientist at the Research Institute on Alcoholism, New York State Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14203. Dr. Barnes' major research interests are in the areas of adolescent socialization within the family and patterns of alcohol use and other related behaviors throughout the life cycle.     

Domestic abuse,civil protection orders and the `new criminologies': is there any value in engaging with the law?

Changes in government policy over the last two decades have seen the traditional goals of criminal justice, namely prosecution and punishment, being replaced by an emphasis on prevention, fear reduction, security and harm reduction. During this time domestic abuse has gained a place on the political agenda, which has resulted in legislative initiatives in the form of civil protection orders across the U.K. which primarily focus on prevention but have also more recently begun to rely on the traditional criminal justice responses should they fail to prevent further abuse. Drawing on international evaluations and a recent study conducted in Scotland (the Scottish study), the article examines whether legislation in the form of civil protection orders has the effect of curtailing the actions of abusers and if not, what occurs when the traditional criminal justice response comes into play. The strengths of civil protection orders and some explanations for the weaknesses of these orders are considered alongside the question of whether there is any value in women continuing to engage with the law in response to domestic abuse. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Biological maturation in adolescence and the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse among young males: A prospective longitudinal study

In the present study, the relationship between biological maturation (skeletal growth) in adolescence and the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse were studied for a representative group of Swedish males. The results showed that early maturers and late maturers had more advanced drinking habits at age 14 as compared to their normally maturing same-aged peers (p<.05).This difference was not significant 1 1/2 years later. In young adulthood more than one third (36%) of the late maturers were registered for alcohol abuse as compared to 14% of the normal maturers and 8% of the early maturers (p=.12).The relevance of psychosocial factors as mediating the relationship between biology and actual behavior was discussed. It was emphasized that differences in biological and psychosocial maturity should be taken into consideration when studying adolescent behavior, both in cross-sectional and in longitudinal perspectives.This study was supported by funds from the Swedish Council for Planing and Coordination of Research, the Committee for Social Research, and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.Received Ph.D. from University of Stockholm 1988. Current research interest is the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse.Current research interest is human development.